A Journey
by whatanauthorsgottado
Summary: May's journey, both through Hoenn and towards- or away from - her soulmates. Second in the Environmentshipping Soulmate AU.
1. The Meetings

Maxie hadn't thought much about the timer on his wrist since he was very young. He knew his was odd; nearly anyone who caught a glimpse of the two-part timer felt the need to inform him of such. It was made even more odd by the fact that one part of the split-timer had been at zero since he was a very small child, yet he wasn't with his soul mate - and didn't, in fact, even know their name. He had a vague recollection of the meeting, of white sand and blue water and a person with dark skin and hair and a high voice that would likely grow much deeper as they grew - but he couldn't remember his first soul mate's name or gender or anything about them save that they had been the best friend Maxie had ever known. Even as he grew older and the memory grew fainter, some small part of him couldn't help but hope that they would meet again and recognize each other, and stay together forever.

His more logical mind informed the tiny, buried romantic of the estimated odds of their meeting again - astronomically low, even if both were living in the same region - at every given opportunity, but nothing could quite crush that tiny hope.

Regardless, Maxie rarely gave any thought to the timer on his wrist. He had, as a child, calculated exactly when he would meet his second soul mate - exactly sixty-nine days, seven hours and twenty-six minutes after his thirty-second birthday - so he didn't spend his time wondering when the meeting would happen, and having heard many stories of meetings on crowded sidewalks and in stores while one party was working, he didn't have high hopes of a spectacular location for the meeting. He did occasionally wonder what his second soul mate might be like - male or female? Younger than him? Older? Brainy, like him, or brawny, like his faint impression of his first soul mate suggested they would be? - but he didn't stress over it. Whoever it was, he had no choice in the matter, so whatever their quirks, he would simply have to bear them.

Maxie did not consider himself an idealist by any standards. In fact, many called him a cynic, and they were not wrong. One could not, however, fault him his cynicism when he had been raised by parents who cared so little about him that they hadn't even noticed the stopping of his timer until approximately two months after the event, and never bothered to even try to help him find his first soul mate again. One of his string of babysitters had helped him in the attempt, but they had been forced to give up, as she hadn't been with them at the time and he couldn't remember his soul mate well enough to help a great deal, and there were not many available resources to help people find missing soul mates at the time.

Maxie had quite liked that girl. As a teenager, he had occasionally wondered what had happened to her after being fired two weeks after their search failed.

With all of this, it was very little wonder why Maxie paid no attention to his timer. He had begun, by the time he turned thirty-two, to suspect that his second soul mate's identity would not surprise him.

Which was why the day his second timer ran out proved to shake him more deeply than anything he had previously experienced.

* * *

Archie knew, growing up, that having a timer with two numbers on it was different. Everyone he knew only had one number on their timers, and most of them were still counting down, except for adults' timers, which mostly had a zero on them. One part of Archie's timer had been stuck at zero for as long as he could remember.

When he grew old enough to really understand what the timer meant, he worried for a while that the fact that his timer was at zero meant that something bad had happened to his soul mate. It was one of the older people of Pacifidlog that put his worries to rest.

"That just means you met 'em already. They're not dead or nothing, you just can't remember who they are 'cause you met too young." The woman showed him the timer on her own wrist, which was blank. "See, if it goes blank, that's when you know they're dead. Zero means ya met them." She then fixed him with a searching look. "Do you remember your meeting?"

Archie shook his head sadly, eyes fixed out the window on the currents of Route 131. "I can't remember almost anything, not their name or if they were a boy or a girl... All I can remember is they had red hair."

She ruffled his hair. "That's something, at least. Red hair's not common, 'specially not in Hoenn. You'll find 'em some day." She smiled wistfully, showing off her mostly-toothless mouth and signaling to Archie that she was about to tell him the story of her meeting, like she had many times to all the kids of Pacifidlog.

Once she got into full swing, she no longer paid any attention to anything, so he snuck out and headed directly to the water.

When he was about nine or ten, his parents decided that he should go to school on the mainland instead of going straight to journeying around the region. They left no room for argument - he would go to school in Rustboro for at least three years before he could go on a journey - but he didn't mind too much. Maybe, he hoped deep down inside, he could find his soul mate again at school.

He didn't find his soul mate at school, which was unfortunate because he could have used that kind of unconditional love and friendship. Archie was not bullied, simply because he was amazingly friendly, but he didn't have many friends - the city kids looked down on the boy from Pacifidlog - so he was very lonely. That, and he missed the sea. There was a patch of coast just north of Rustboro that he swam often, but swimming in calm oceans was nothing compared to the currents near his hometown. He met his first Pokémon, a Carvahna, there, which was something.

Even on his journey through the region, Archie met no one with red enough hair to be his soul mate. He met a number of people with orange or auburn hair, but he remembered his soul mate having hair like the colour of Carvahna's belly scales, so he never approached them. He never gave up hope for finding them, though, even when he returned home to Pacifidlog after failing the Elite Four challenge.

When he was young, the second timer didn't cross his mind as much after he figured out that it wouldn't stop until he was about twenty-eight years old. Sometimes he wondered where he would meet his soul mate - he couldn't decide if he wanted the classic "meeting on a street corner" or if he wanted to meet them by the sea - but he rarely worried about who they were. They were his soul mate, after all. They would fit together perfectly, no matter who the other was.

This belief was why the revelation of his second soul mate's identity surprised him so greatly.

* * *

May was always curious about the timers on people's wrists. She always wanted to know what time they were at, what their timer looked like, what they thought their soul mate was going to be like... the works. It came of having an unusual timer, her parents said.

Not that having a two-part timer was terribly unusual. Her mother had known a boy in school who had a two-part timer - one side was blue, and had run out before her mother knew him, and the other side was green and had a long time left on it.

May's own timer was part blue and part red, the colour of water and fire. Her parents sometimes used to joke that her soul mates must be specialist Trainers, one of Water-types and one of Fire-types. When May left on her own journey, they thought she would probably balance them out, with her lack of preference for one type of Pokémon.

When she was little, May and her mother figured out that she would meet her soul mates when she was about nineteen, and she would meet them only a few weeks apart.

"You're lucky," her mother told her. "The boy I knew in school wasn't going to meet his second soul mate for another almost twenty years."

May's eyes bugged out. "Really? What about his first soul mate?"

Her mother shrugged. "I don't know. I never really spoke to him. I just heard about it from someone else."

Her father, who had gone on journeys through Kanto, Johto and Hoenn as a teen, told her about meeting another boy on his journey who also had a two-part timer. "One part of his timer was also at zero," her father said. "He said he was looking for his soul mate on his journey."

"Do you think maybe they're each other's soul mates?" May, ever the romantic, sighed. It was like a fairy tale.

Norman laughed. "I don't think so, but maybe."

"That would be so sweet! But if they never found each other, it would be sad." May frowned, eyes tearing up slightly.

"I'm sure they'll find their soul mates," Norman said quickly to stave off any crying. "Don't worry about it."

The story of the two men stayed at the back of May's mind her whole childhood. She was glad that she would be old enough to remember who her soul mates would be when she met them, so even if they got separated she would be able to find them.

She often daydreamed about her meetings. Would she meet her soul mates on the street, like so many people she had heard about? Or maybe they would meet on her journey and travel together. She often spent hours dreaming about what exactly would happen, what they would say, what they would do after...

She also wondered what kind of people her soul mates would be. She worried throughout her teen years that they wouldn't like her, that she would be too annoying or loud or something and they would leave her and she would be alone. Her parents reassured her that they would never do that, that it was in fact very difficult to walk away from your soul mate no matter what their immediate difficulties were, but she never really managed to believe it. She knew, however, that she would never leave her soul mates unless she had to, no matter who they were.

She did hope that they were good, nice people. A friend of hers had found her soul mate in a boy who wanted to join Team Rocket. May shuddered at the thought.

* * *

When her family moved to Hoenn, May became more nervous than ever about meeting her soul mates. Hoennians were weird, and if her soul mates were Hoennian, she would have to put up with so much weirdness she'd probably go crazy. Her parents told her she was being silly, but she had heard from friends who had lived in Hoenn how weird these people were.

She found out when she left on her journey just how ridiculous she was. Hoennians were just like anyone else, if a little too friendly and fond of trumpet music. She thought that maybe the trumpets would drive her insane eventually, but she could live with anything else.

* * *

 _A/N: Here you should read/have read my other story, Meeting, which is the story of Archie and May's meeting._

* * *

Her first meeting was the worst. She came out of the Slateport Museum in shock, blindly following the road to the nearest bench and planting herself firmly on it. She proceeded to bury her face in her hands and let out a few dry sobs, shaking all over.

"Young lady, are you alright?"

She looked up in surprise. It was Captain Stern. He smiled at her and sat down on the other end of the bench. Silence reigned for a moment as she tried to collect herself.

"It is a rather beautiful day out, isn't it?" Stern asked. "I love watching the Wingull fly by, out over the sea. It is quite an inspiring sight."

"Yeah," May muttered, staring at the ground. "It's nice."

"It is rather too nice a day to be crying on a park bench," Stern said firmly. "I did witness your meeting, and your soul mate was rather... unfortunately chosen... but that does not reflect upon you in the slightest. The way I see it, there is no cause for sadness or alarm."

May glared up at him. "Easy for you to say."

"I suppose it would seem that way, but consider this: the villain is your soul mate. You can, by using this connection with him, stop his plans before they even begin, return him to the side of light and the law."

She opened her mouth to yell at him, then registered what he had said and closed it. "You have a good point. I guess I never thought of it that way. Maybe my - our, I guess - other soul mate will help with that."

"Other soul mate?"

"Oh, yeah. My timer's got two parts." She showed him her wrist, and he looked intrigued.

"I've never seen a two-part timer in my life." He considered it for a few moments. "Everyone's timer has a colour, but most assume that the colour symbolizes something about themselves. Perhaps two-part timers are different? Or does everyone's timer refer to their soul mate?"

"I don't know. I guess Archie was blue, since that's the one that counted down... I wonder who red is?"

"I suppose you shall have to find out." Stern stood, and offered his hand to May. She stood and shook it, meeting his eyes with a smile on her face. "Best of luck to you in all your endeavours. And thanks again for delivering the Devon parts to me."

"They were - well - not much trouble on their own, but... you know."

He chuckled. "Indeed." He headed off back towards the port, and May went for the north gate. Stern was right. She could use this connection with the Aqua leader, stop him in his tracks.

At least, she hoped so.

* * *

Her second meeting went rather better than her first. She met her second soul mate at Meteor Falls while trying to save Professor Cozmo from Team Aqua.

"What is it with them and harassing scientists?" May muttered as she watched the two Aqua grunts leave the cavern.

"What do you mean?" Brendan asked.

"Oh, they tried to steal some parts off a Devon employee a while back. We were in the area, remember?"

"No, I don't remember anything like that. I think I heard about something to do with Devon, but I never actually saw anything."

"Never mind, then. It's not important."

Professor Cozmo, now apparently recovered from his quivering terror, came and shook both their hands vigorously. "Thank you so much for saving me! It's too bad that Team Aqua got away with the Meteorite, though... I wonder what they could possibly need it for?"

"It doesn't matter what they need it for. It can't be any good. I'll get it back for you, Professor, don't worry."

"Will you?" His eyes sparkled with gratitude and hope, and he clasped her hand between both of his own. "Thank you! But please, be very careful. These Team Aqua people, they're dangerous."

"Don't I know it," she muttered, glancing at the blue timer on her wrist. She noticed that the red timer was almost at zero - there was less than a minute left till her next meeting.

"What... who?"

She didn't have long to consider before a voice rang through the cave and interrupted her thoughts. "He's right, you know. Team Aqua are not people to be trifled with, especially not by mere children."

The three turned around to face the speaker, a tall, spindly redheaded man wearing a long coat and, oddly enough, what looked like woolen leg warmers, in shades of red that either clashed with or matched his hair. Behind him stood a man and woman in red hooded ponchos, though only the man had his hood pulled up.

They walked up the steps carved into the stone platform that May, Brendan and Cozmo stood on. Automatically, she stepped in front of Cozmo, and Brendan followed suit. Their hands moved to rest on the Poké balls on their belts. The redheaded man smirked - more of a small turning of the corners of his lips - and stopped just in front of them.

"I'm not interested in anything the scientist has," he said coolly. "The only thing he had of interest was that Meteorite, and it would appear that Team Aqua already has that in their grasps." When neither trainer relaxed, he sighed quietly. "Very well. I see that you do not trust me. That may prove to be a wise decision on your parts." He added this last bit to himself, but Brendan apparently heard it loud and clear.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The man straightened to his full height, either to shake off the question or in an attempt to control the situation. "Nothing at all. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the great Maxie, leader of Team Magma. Remember that."

He stepped forward to pass the group by, his Magma members following behind, and caught May's eye. A shock went through her, and she knew that the second timer on her wrist had just run out.

By the look on Maxie's face, and the way he stopped in his tracks, she knew he felt the same. He turned to face her more fully, his posture rigid and his face carefully blank.

"Show me your wrist," he said.

She held out the wrist with the timers. Sure enough, the red timer was blinking zero, once a second. The blue timer above it was steadily displaying zero. Absently, she wondered if it had something to do with proximity to one's soul mate, or if it just blinked at the first meeting.

He pulled up his own sleeve to show her his timers - a blue one and a green one. The blue one, like the one on her wrist, was at zero, and the green one was blinking.

"This changes things somewhat," he said. "Come with me, then. You'll join Team Magma and help me combat the Aqua threat." He turned his hand to grab her wrist, already turning to leave.

"No!"

He stopped and turned back around to meet her eyes again. "No?"

She couldn't see his eyes through her own reflection on his glasses, which made her nervous, but she swallowed it and stood tall. "No. I'm not going to join Team Magma. I'm not going to join either of you."

"Either of us? Has Aqua already made you an offer, then?"

"Yes. Archie made me an offer-" she paused, suddenly aware of the other people there. She didn't care what the Magma members thought about her and her soul mates, but... Brendan was her friend, and she didn't want him to think less of her because of her soul mates. She thought she was probably being ridiculous, but... She didn't want him to know yet.

"-when I stopped him attacking someone in Slateport City," she finished a little weakly. "He liked my guts or something and he offered to let me join Team Aqua. But I'm not going to join either of you."

"Hm. Very well. But perhaps we should discuss arrangements... how this is going to work." He looked over May's shoulder at Brendan and Cozmo, remembering that they had an audience. "Perhaps that is a conversation best had alone. I will meet you at the rest stop on Route 111 in four hours." With that, he walked out of Meteor Falls, the Magma grunts trailing behind.

"What was that all-" Brendan started to ask, but May cut him off with a gesture and led the way out of the cave. They could talk about it back in Fallarbor Town. She wanted to get Cozmo to safety first.

After the three of them arrived back at the Professor's house and had been fussed over by Cozmo's wife, Brendan fixed her with a stare over his mug of hot chocolate. "So May. What was that all about, with that Magma guy in the cave? Why did he want to recruit you?"

She shrugged, still uncomfortable with the idea of telling him about her soulmates. "I don't know. Guess he thought I would be helpful or something."

"May. I saw him look at your wrist. Is he your soulmate?"

"Yes," she whispered, staring at her knees. "Yes, he's... my second soulmate."

"Your second?"

She showed him the two timers on her wrist, both displaying zero. "I have two timers. Two soulmates. I met the first one in Slateport City."

"Well, where are they?"

"He's... he had to do other things. We couldn't stay together, not yet. I wasn't ready to give up my journey, so we decided to meet later." It wasn't completely a lie, but she still felt bad not telling him the truth.

"Okay. So what are you going to do about the second guy? Didn't he want to meet up with you?"

"Yeah. I guess I'll go meet with him and... see where it goes from there. I don't know. But I don't want to join Team Magma, like I said."

"I don't think you can really trust him, though. How about I come with you, just as backup?"

"No," she said flatly. "He won't hurt me. He can't. And like he said earlier, it's a conversation we need to have alone."

"May, I just worry about you. What if he tries to take you away or something?"

She wanted to snap at him, but Brendan's expression was so earnest she just couldn't be angry. "No, Brendan. I'll be fine. I'll meet you in Mauville tomorrow, if you want."

Brendan sighed and nodded. "Okay. If you're sure. I'll meet you in the main square by the Pokemon Center, okay?"

"Alright." May drained her mug of hot chocolate and handed it back to Cozmo's wife. "Thanks for your hospitality, but I'd better get going."

"Oh, are you sure? Well, thank you again for saving Takao. Please come back and visit sometime!"

May forced a little smile and said "Yeah, of course," before she turned and left.

On her way out of town, she stopped at the Pokemon Center to heal her team, then she started making her way east to the rest stop.

While she trudged back through the grass and piles of ash, she tried not to think about anything, and mostly she succeeded. She just ignored the knowledge of her soul mates, tried to forget that one was the leader of a team that had attacked people and the other had almost-but-not-quite threatened her and her friend. She had almost managed to convince herself that her soul mates were normal people her own age when Maxie came into view, standing stock-still behind the little house, and reality crashed back down on her head.

As she approached, Maxie turned to face her. She couldn't see his eyes - the light reflected off the surface of his glasses in such a way that they looked white - but she thought he looked impatient. As she approached, the glare faded until she could see through his glasses. He was impatient.

"You're late," he said by way of greeting.

"I'm not. You're early." She didn't even have to check the time on her PokeNav Plus to know that it hadn't been four hours since they parted.

"Hm."

"I realized I never introduced myself. I'm May."

"May," Maxie repeated quietly, testing the sound. Both liked the way it sounded on his tongue.

They were silent for a moment, neither knowing what to say, when May blurted out, "Do you know who your second soul mate is?"

Maxie stiffened. "I do not. Is it important?"

 _Of course they're important, they're our soul mate!_ she wanted to scream, but she didn't. "Why don't you know?"

"Why does it matter?" She stared into his eyes, unrelenting, until he looked away and sighed. "Fine. We met when we were very young, and we parted never to find each other again. Now will you explain why it matters?"

"Because... I met him a few weeks ago. And he... Our other soul mate is Archie."

If Maxie were a lesser man, he would have crumbled right there. As it was, his brains seemed to disconnect, and his mouth moved without sound.

He pulled himself together as May hung her head, shaking. Some instinct possessed him to grab her shoulders and pull her close - not quite a hug, but closer than she had been standing. He couldn't believe his own behaviour - he'd never initiated physical contact with anyone - but May seemed to find it comforting, because she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. He stood with his arms out to the sides for a moment, uncertain what to do, before gently placing his hands on her back.

"What do we do?" she sobbed into his chest. "What do I do? He's - and you - and-"

"Sh," he said. "This changes things, but not a great deal. It only makes it more imperative that we stop Archie, before he hurts one of us - or himself."

"Y-yeah. But I was thinking more - how do we live like this? I mean, you two hate each other and I'm s-stuck in the middle... I can't live like that. I can't choose one of you."

"Perhaps we should cross that bridge when we come to it. The important thing now is to get Archie under control. Focus on that, and worry about what will happen after... after."

May nodded. "Okay. I think I can do that." She straightened, but didn't let go of him. She didn't want to, yet; she hadn't been this close someone in a while, and it was... nice.

They stood holding each other for a few more moments, then Maxie shifted a little, uncomfortable. May let go of him and they stepped apart a little.

"May... I can't join you on your journey. I need to lead Team Magma and attempt to stop or at least slow Team Aqua down. I need you to join me."

"I can't do that. But we should stay in contact, at least. I can call you from the Pokemon Center when I get to a new town... keep you updated."

"We'll likely have to talk more often than once every few days, or in case of emergencies. You don't have a cell phone, do you?"

"No. I probably should." She laughed a little sheepishly. "I'm surprised my mom didn't think of it... she's pretty overprotective. But I wasn't planning on going on a journey, it was just kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. Destiny, I guess." She shook her head a little, chuckling again. "I should probably look into that while I'm in Mauville. I'll call my mom and ask for some money..."

Maxie spoke before she could continue - not that he didn't want to listen to her, but they both had places to be and the conversation was largely finished. "Very well. I'll give you my number. Call me when you get a phone, and we'll discuss next moves then."

She pulled a pen from her bag and wrote his number on her arm, since she didn't have any paper. Maxie looked a little uncertain as she scrawled the digits in large font across her forearm, but she shrugged and he didn't say anything.

They both stood looking at each other for a while, neither certain about how to say goodbye. That was the problem with knowing when you met your soulmate, May thought: You might know who they are, but it could be difficult to tell anything about them at first unless they were very open.

Finally, May leaned in and hugged him again for a second. He stiffened, but his expression when she pulled back wasn't negative; apparently he was just unused to hugging. She resolved to try and solve this as soon as she could.

"I'll... I'll see you later, I guess, Maxie."

"I - yes. Goodbye, May. Take care."

"You too." She turned away and headed south, back to Mauville to meet Brendan.

* * *

The next day around noon, May met Brendan in the square in the middle of Mauville. The first thing her best friend did when he saw her was scoop her up in a massive hug.

"Ah! Brendan!"

"Hey! I'm glad you're alright." He put her down and grinned at her. "I was worried you were gonna get in some kind of trouble." For a moment, the grin slid off his face and he looked at her seriously. "How'd it go yesterday? How'd your soulmate take the news you weren't going to join him?"

"It was fine, Brendan." As much as she appreciated his concern, it was a little tiring. She wasn't a child; she could take care of herself. "We came to an arrangement. I'm getting a phone, so I can keep in touch with him."

"Oh. That's a good idea, I guess. Good to know he cares about how you're doing, anyway. I still don't trust him, though."

"And that's your right, but just so you, know it's not going to change anything."

"Fine. So if he's getting your phone number, can I get it too? So _I_ can check how you're doing?"

May pretended to think about it for a little while, starting to walk to a nearby electronics store and forcing Brendan to catch up to her. "Maybe. I'll have to think about it. I don't trust you not to call me constantly..."

He snorted. "I don't call, I text. Well, whatever. Here, I'll give you my number just in case." He pulled out a pen and reached for her arm, stopping when he saw the numbers written on her arm. "May... Is that his phone number?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Let me see it." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her arm out straight so he could see the numbers, reaching to pull his own phone out of his bag.

"Wait! Brendan! What are you doing?"

"Sending an important text." He let go of her arm and typed something into his phone. "Okay, there."

"What... You didn't just text Maxie, did you? What did you say?"

He handed his phone to her so she could read. _This is Brendan, May's best friend. I'm warning you now, if you hurt her, I'll hunt you down_. As she watched, a new text popped up below the first one.

 _Duly noted. Do not text me again._

She rolled her eyes and handed the phone back to Brendan. "Really? What is this, a movie?"

"No! I just wanted him to know what would happen if something happened to you, and that was the only way I could think of to do it. Anyway, let's get you a phone."

May rolled her eyes at him, but followed him into the store anyway.

An hour later, May and Brendan left the store, May with a new phone and Brendan with a scowl at the clerk.

"That guy doesn't know anything about being a Trainer. He was just trying to sell you the most expensive phone."

"Well, whatever. I have a phone that'll work, so it doesn't matter what he was trying to sell me."

"Still..."

She rolled her eyes at him, and he dropped the topic.

"Fine. What're you gonna do now?"

"I'm going to call my mom, then Maxie, and then I'm going to head for Lavaridge Town, I guess."

"Right, I forgot to tell you something. I won't be able to head to Lavaridge with you 'cause my dad called and he needs me at home. Do you think you'll be alright?"

"Yeah. You know, I did travel without you for most of my journey."

"Yeah, I know. I just want to keep an eye on you, now that you're mixing it up with these Team Magma guys. And that Team Aqua doesn't sound too friendly either." He puffed out his chest and stuck his thumb into it proudly. "As your best friend, it's my job to make sure you're safe at all times."

"Sounds more like my mom."

"Hey!"

May laughed at his exaggerated outrage. "I'll be fine, Brendan. Here, give me your number and I'll add you to the list of people to keep updated."

"Good idea."

She typed his number into her contacts list and smiled. "There. Now I can keep you updated on all the dangerous stuff I do."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Sure, Hoenn Ranger. I gotta get going." He held his arms out and she gave him a short hug. "See ya, May!"

"Bye, Brendan."


	2. Mt Chimney

May made her way up to Mt. Chimney, since the only way to get to Lavaridge Town was apparently by heading up to the top of a dormant volcano and then heading down the side of it.

"Whose terrible idea of regional planning was this, anyway?" she muttered as she walked. "Shouldn't a town have more ways than one to reach it? What happens if the volcano erupts and the cable car gets destroyed?"

Dropping this lovely train of thought, she headed into the cable car station. _Weird. Weren't there Team Aqua grunts here last time I passed by?_

She shrugged and smiled at the cable car attendant, who sent her into the car and up the mountain.

When she arrived at the top and left the station, she was met with a completely unwelcome surprise – Teams Aqua and Magma were duking it out on the top of the volcano, and on a glass viewing platform stood Archie, working the controls to some strange-looking machine.

May rushed over towards Maxie, who was battling a hulking member of Team Aqua. Quickly, she let out Jace to give Maxie's Poochyena a break from battling.

"What's going on?"

"Team Aqua is hatching some hairbrained scheme to stop up the volcano," Maxie replied. "I'm a little tied up at the moment, but I can handle this brute – go and stop Archie, quickly!"

May nodded, calling to Jace and dashing past the battle, hoping her interruption hadn't cost Maxie anything.

Before she could reach Archie, a woman with dark hair with a blue streak stopped her. "Hey! What do you think you're doing up here?!"

"Stopping you guys," May yelled, sending Jace forward as the woman released a Poke ball from her belt.

A short battle left May victorious, and the woman wincing. "Fine! Guess I can't stop you! Talk to Archie!"

"What's this?" came Archie's voice as he stepped towards May. "May! Come to join us after all?"

"Hell no! I'm here to stop you!"

Archie shook his head. "You just don't get it, do ya? Team Aqua's got the best interests of all Pokemon at heart. Don't you?"

"Yeah! But..."

"But what?"

May shook her head. Archie chuckled. "You don't even know what we're doing up here, do ya? We're stopping up the volcano. If we stop the volcano from ever erupting, it'll be easier to expand the seas, which'll be good for Pokemon and people alike."

"That's stupid! Expanding the seas will destroy a lot of habitats and stuff – Pokemon and people will die!"

Archie shook his head again. "You just don't get it, scamp."

"I get it just fine. Archie – this isn't going to help anyone." She held her hand out to him. "Don't do this. Come with me, we can talk. We can find the best way to help Pokemon and people – together. As... as soulmates."

Archie's eyes softened for a second, then he shut them and shook his head violently. "No. You can't stop me from doing this. I know what's the best way to help Pokemon and people, and I'm gonna do it. If you're gonna stand in my way... I guess I can't stop ya."

He reached for a Poke ball on his belt, and May sent Jace forward once more.

A tense battle left May the victor. Archie chuckled, and that chuckle turned into a full-blown laugh. "You're not a bad trainer, scamp. Too bad you're on the wrong side." He turned to the woman. "Shelly. Pack it in. We're heading out. We've spent too much time here already." He looked back at May. "You can have the Meteorite, and you can feel like you've won all ya want. But you're not gonna stop us from achieving our plans." He hesitated, as though wanting to say more, then shook his head and walked away.

* * *

May told the police what had happened. They looked skeptical, but one of the officers promised to return the meteorite to Professor Cozmo, so May left it at that and headed for Lavaridge Town.

As she headed down the mountain path, Maxie caught up with her. "Thank you."

"I didn't really even stop him," May muttered. "Even the cops didn't believe me. I feel pretty useless right about now."

"As a volcanologist, Archie's plan was foolish and dangerous. Stopping up the volcano would have increased the pressure inside it and possibly caused an eruption. You stopped him from doing that – which is important."

"I guess." She stopped and looked at Maxie. "But we're always a step behind him. How are we going to stop him from expanding the oceans if we don't even know what his next move is?"

"Even simply dogging his steps can help. You stopped him here – you can stop him at the next junction."

"But that's not good enough!" Maxie recoiled slightly at her anger. "We need to stop him before he does something dangerous, not after. What if next time, we're too late and he's already done whatever he's planning to do?"

"Then we adapt. And if worse comes to worst, and he finds a way to expand the seas... then we help to evacuate the people up to the mountains."

Tears stung at May's eyes, and she reached out to Maxie for a hug. "I hope it doesn't come to that."

He placed his hands uncertainly on her back. "So do I."


	3. A Bit of Talking

May left the Gym, feeling a little better than she had the day before. By the time she'd made it to Lavaridge Town, it'd been night, so she'd checked into the Pokemon Center and fallen into a restless sleep.

She spotted Brendan waiting for her beside the Gym and grinned at him, showing off her new Badge. He grinned back.

"Nice one!"

"Thanks."

"What's up?"

She told him about what had happened on Mt. Chimney the day before. As she told the story, Brendan looked more and more serious.

"I knew those Aqua guys were bad news. Expanding the oceans? That's crazy!"

"I know! He's going to destroy everything!"

Brendan slammed a fist into his palm. "We've gotta stop him."

"Yeah. That's what I said to Maxie, too. Him and Team Magma are gonna try and figure out what Team Aqua's up to; he told me to just keep going on my journey and try not to worry about it, but if I see Team Aqua to let him know."

"Good idea." Brendan suddenly grinned. "So, let's keep going! Where to next?"

"I need to head back to Petalburg, to get my next badge. You gonna come with?"

"Might as well. Don't want you getting lost." Brendan winked, and May elbowed him in the ribs. She started walking towards the entrance to Lavaridge, leaving Brendan scrambling to catch up.

"Come on. The sooner we get done in Petalburg, the sooner we can head up to Fortree to our next badge..."

* * *

May walked into the Gym Leader's room in the Petalburg Gym, where her father was seated on a tatami mat. He looked up as she entered, and smiled.

"So, this day I've been waiting for has finally come." He stood, and pulled a Poke ball from his belt. "Now, it's time to show me what you've become... how great of a Trainer you really are."

May grinned. "Let's go, dad!"

The battle was a close match, but May emerged victorious. It was with pride that he handed her over his Badge.

"Thanks, dad!"

"Don't thank me, thank your Pokemon. They're the ones who did the work – for you."

May nodded solemnly, then broke out in a grin and threw her arms around her dad. "I've got so much to tell you! We should go have lunch..."

A few moments later, they were seated at a small café on the edge of town. May chattered to her father about some of the things she'd seen on her journey, then grew silent as their lunches arrived at the table.

She picked at her food for a few minutes, then looked up at her dad. "How did you and Mom meet?"

"We met on our journies. We actually ran into each other on a street corner in Sinnoh – she was coming around the corner, and I wasn't watching..." He chuckled. "I was pretty clumsy back then." He looked at May carefully. "Why? Did you meet one of your soulmates?"

"I – yeah. I met both of them. They... weren't who I expected."

"Oh?"

She spilled out the story of how she'd met Archie, and who he was and what he was doing, then how she met Maxie and how they were now working together to try to stop Archie. Her father looked at her gravely.

"I'll ask the League to keep an eye out for these Team Aqua people," he promised. "If we can help stop them, we'll do it."

May smiled, feeling reassured. "Thanks, dad."

He shook a finger at her. "Be careful. You've gotten mixed up in a lot of dangerous stuff. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I won't." May stood, leaving a few bills on the table to cover the bill. "Love you, dad."

"I love you too, May."

* * *

 _Okay. I can do this._

May took a deep breath, then hit the call button.

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom."

"May! I didn't expect to hear from you so soon! What's happening, sweetie?"

"I... I met my soulmates."

"Oh, that's wonderful! What are they like? What are their names?"

"They're, uh... The first one's named Archie, and he's like, a swimmer or something. He's from Hoenn, I think. I don't know, really... he's pretty cool. And the other one's named Maxie, and he's... kind of stiff... he's really formal and stuff."

"That's nice, dear! Where are they? Are they with you on your journey?"

"Uh, no... they, um... they have to work, and stuff, so they couldn't come with me. It kind of sucks, but... whatever. We talk and stuff."

"That's good! You'll have to bring them over and introduce me! Where are you?"

"I'm heading towards Fortree... I just beat Dad's Gym."

"Oh! Well done, honey! I knew you'd be able to do it! I bet Norman was so proud!"

"Yeah, he was!"

"That's great! Well, keep me posted. I always love to hear about your adventures, you know."

"Yeah, definitely. Love you, mom."

"Love you too, May!"

 _Click._

"Phew... That went over well."


End file.
